Trying To Move On
by xxxXXxEllexXXxxx
Summary: In that one fatal accident, Gabriella lost everything. This is her last battle, the one to say goodbye to the only person she ever loved, and maybe to try and revive her own sanity. Oneshot.
1. Chapter 1

**Trying To Move On**

**Hey guys, I've had loads of spare time on my hands lately because two out of three of our computers have had viruses, and as for the third one, my brother was constantly on it, so I've had loads of time to write, it's just trying to get it typed up and posted, anyway, here's my new oneshot Trying To Move On, it was originally a oneshot, but because it's so long, i had to split it into two parts, and for any of you reading Mistakes, it has been updated now, please read and review, I hope that you like it!**

Gabriella sighed as she looked at the guitar sat beside her, closing her tired eyes slightly, but snapping them back open when all she saw behind the closed eyelids was bright lights and red stains, the screams once more seeming to ring through her ears, her own screams, and _his_.

She lifted the guitar onto her lap and gently started to strum it, glad to know that it was still in tune, and smiling as she glanced at all of the stickers that she had placed on the guitar, _his_ guitar, grinning slightly at the pink glittery ones that _he_ had nearly had a fit about, when _he_ had seen them, but just as soon as the grin had appeared on her face, it had disappeared again, _he_ would never be there to yell at her for defacing _his_ guitar ever again, the guitar that she had inherited two and a half months ago now, February fifteenth two thousand and eight, when they were celebrating their belated valentine's day, due to her being ill the previous day.

"Gabby?" A small voice questioned at the door, and Gabriella glanced towards the door, a small smile flickering across her features, before disappearing again as she looked at Sharpay, leaning against the doorframe, eyeing her best friend up with a scrunched up face, and Gabriella instantly knew that she didn't approve of her change in dress sense, new hair style or the amount of make up that she had started using since the accident, but Gabriella also knew that _he_ would be disappointed and in her mind, that was enough reason to carry on doing it, that way, _he_ might have to come back to her, even if it is just to yell at her.

Rolling her eyes, Gabriella glanced back to Sharpay again, "What do you want Pay?" She questioned sharply, although her tone was a lot softer than the one that she now used with most people, too terrified to open up her heart once more, given how well that had worked out in the past.

Snapping out of her trance, Sharpay smiled back at Gabriella, "It's your turn for the leavers' concert next and Ms. Darbus is completely freaking out because you're not in the wings yet."

Nodding slightly, Gabriella stood up and grabbed the guitar, following Sharpay to the stage, and realising that she must have missed her friends' performance, the whole gang had done a performance together, as a tribute to _him, _just as Gabriella, the last one to perform in the concert, by her own choice, was also doing a tribute to _him_, only for her, it was going to be her first time singing since _his_ death, the gang had heard her strumming away on her guitar, but not a single one of them had heard her so much as hum in the past ten weeks, let alone sing.

Gabriella slowly walked out to centre stage, flicking her long, dark fringe out of her eyes as she glanced down at the audience below her, every person having shock written across their features, given the fact that Gabriella had started refusing to talk to anyone but the gang after the accident, unless she had to, and even then it was always in an irritated, short, clipped tone that had anyone running for safety within minutes, she had even started refusing to answer any of the teacher's questions in any of her lessons, even though everyone knew that she knew the answers.

Taking a deep breath, Gabriella settled back onto her stool and surveyed her audience once more, "This song I wrote about two weeks ago now when I had a break down, but I've finally realised that I need to try and let go of the only person that I've ever loved, if I want to keep my own sanity. So this one's for him, I miss you like hell and I still love you Troy, always." As she finished by whispering the last word, Gabriella gently started to strum on her guitar, well aware that the entire room was listening in an awed silence, not even a tiny murmur or whisper in amongst the crowd, everyone that had been involved in the show gathered at the sides of the auditorium or in the wings, the gang right at the front, watching her and listening intently to how she planned to finally set him free, her final attempt of closure.

_**Of all the things I believed in,**_

_**I just wanna get it over with,**_

_**Tears form behind my eyes,**_

_**But I do not cry,**_

_**Counting the days that pass me by.**_

Gabriella remembered the first time that she had desperately tried to move on from Troy, only four days after his death at his funeral. It was the first time that she had left her room in days, and even then, it was only after Chad literally knelt outside of her door, begging her to come, so she had sighed once, crossed of another meaningless day on her calendar, counting the billions of days until she could finally be back in his arms once again, and had stepped out of the room, shocking everyone with how lifeless she looked, wearing no make up, a black dress and her hair all matted, which Sharpay quickly sorted out, pulling it up into a neat ponytail, Gabriella only sitting their motionless while she did so.

_Gabriella had stayed silent during the entire funeral, flicking her promise ring over in her fingers as she watched the one true love of her life be lowered into the ground, feeling the whole congregations stares on her as she had walked towards the grave and thrown the red and white roses in on top of his casket, and feeling their stares even more at the beginning of the funeral, when she had walked up to his closed casket, placing a tender kiss to it, before retreating back to her place between Chad and Sharpay in the front row, feeling them instantly wrap their arms around her, although she gave no reaction and just kept staring at the pine casket._

_But now, at the wake, Gabriella could no longer take the sounds of Lucille Bolton sobbing her heart out while Jack Bolton and the other guests tried to comfort her, most crying themselves for the loss of a beloved child and basketball captain, East High's Golden Boy, everyone's best friend, and shrugged Chad's arm away from her, sprinting up the stairs and slamming the door of the bathroom, locking it behind her, even as she heard the footfalls behind her._

_Trembling, Gabriella sat on the edge of the bathtub, realising that somehow she had ended up in her ex-boyfriend's personal bathroom, glancing at some of the pictures that he had hung on the wall in the bathroom, Gabriella's eyes were drawn to a specific one of the two of them, both of them stood in front of a brand new black Audi, Troy's beam saying it all, as he had one arm wrapped tightly around his girlfriend's shoulders, and the other hand placed on the hood of his new car, the brand new car that was now a mangled wreck, along with the owner of that car. Gabriella's eyes flickered up to look at his face in the picture, his bright blue eyes' sparkling with joy and laughter; she had been the last one to see them sparkle like that. The last one to see him alive, the first one to see him dead, yet she still hadn't managed to shed a single tear over the accident._

_Her eyes left the picture and she glanced towards the door, faintly hearing the rest of the gang pounding on the door and screaming her name, begging her to open it, but she ignored them, the blood in her running cold and her mouth unable to make any sounds whatsoever, even after four days, she had still not found her voice._

_At this moment in time, she didn't care for her life in the slightest, she had already lost everything that she had ever cared for, so she so no point in her being on Earth anymore, she just wanted to get it over with, quickly._

_Rising from her seat on the edge of the bathtub, Gabriella crossed the small room hurriedly and opened Troy's medicine cabinet, cracking a small smile when she found a bottle of sleeping tablets, pulling them down from the shelf and into her grasp, she flicked them over and glanced at the back, 'take no more than five tablets within twenty four hours,' smiling once more, Gabriella popped open the bottle, and tipped the contents onto her open palm, counting the full thirteen pills that now lay across her hand, barely registering that the pounding and the screaming on the other side of the door was getting louder and louder, more and more urgent by the minute._

_Rapidly though, Gabriella's tiny smile turned into a frown as she continued to watch the pills in her hand, realising that he would be so disappointed in her for giving up her life and not trying to live and move on, that even if she did end up with him, he probably wouldn't talk to her for all eternity._

_Slowly, she sunk down onto her knees, feeling the tears gather behind her eyes, but feeling unable to cry them, as the bathroom door suddenly burst open, and the entire gang looked on horrified at Gabriella knelt in the middle of the floor, the bottle clutched in one of her hands and the pills lying on her other open palm._

"_Gabby, what did you do? Ryan whispered, as both he and Chad dropped down beside her, handing the bottle and the pills to Kelsi, before wrapping their arms securely around Gabriella, trying to determine whether or not they should take her to the hospital, not expecting an answer after four days of silence._

"_I couldn't, I couldn't do it," A hoarse voice whispered, and the gang all looked at her in shock, "He would be so disappointed in me, and you must all hate me," She murmured almost inaudibly, as the whole gang shook their heads._

"_Brie, we could never hate you, we're just so worried about you, we can't lose you as well," Taylor muttered, tears streaming down her face as she also fell to the ground, followed by Sharpay, Kelsi, Jason and Zeke, the whole gang clinging onto each other, all of them sobbing noisily but Gabriella, who just sat there silently, staring into space, letting them hang onto her and each other as her arms stayed by her side, knowing that only one pair of arms would ever be able to warm her up, but he was gone forever._

_**I've been searching deep down in my soul,**_

_**Words that I'm hearing are starting to get old,**_

_**Feels like I'm starting all over again,**_

_**The last three years were just pretend,**_

_**And I said,**_

Gabriella smiled softly as she remembered their first meeting, a little over three years ago, when she'd joined East High School halfway through their freshman year, and had instantly fallen in with the gang, Troy of course already being a basketball superstar for the school.

_Gabriella gently loaded up her new locker with all of her schoolbooks, warily glancing around at all of the people passing by her, each one studying her intently, as if trying to place her, and although she was only thirteen years old, having skipped the third grade, when her teacher became increasingly frustrated with Gabriella's constant corrections in front of the class, Gabriella already knew the horrors of high school, having already moved three times in only her freshman year, and having been called freaky math girl at every single one of those schools._

_Sighing softly, she took out the books that she figured she would need for her first two periods, and readjusted her white skirt that reached just beyond her knee, also making sure that the buttons on her powder blue, silk blouse were all done up in the right holes, and that her pale pink flip flops were in no danger of flying through the hair and hitting somebody in the head, as they had so horrendously done on her first day at her last school, causing everyone to laugh and put their books over their heads every time she passed them in the hallways from then onwards._

_Glancing at her class schedule one last time, she started to head for her homeroom, with a woman names Mrs. Darbus in room one two one._

_Halfway down the corridor, Gabriella felt an arm grab her wrist, causing her to drop all of her books as she was flung up against a locker, pain radiating through her back, as she blinked repeatedly to try and clear her vision of the spots that were now corrupting it, finding herself staring into the faces of five older guys, each at least double her size and wearing football uniforms._

_"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The first one smirked, holding Gabriella up from the ground by her arms as she squirmed and wriggled, trying to get lose._

_"Hmm, I don't know Greg, I think that it would be a new chick that we're all going to have our way with," The second one grinned as Gabriella pulled back further into the lockers, whimpering slightly, "What do you think Eric?" He laughed with the third one who just shrugged, before stepping right up close to Gabriella's face, causing her to pull back again as she felt his clammy breath roll up her face and felt his gaze focus on her chest before lifting up to her face, smirking as he reached a hand out to stroke her side and Gabriella started to thrash and wriggle, knowing that her attempts to get free would be useless given that there was no longer anyone in the hallway, they were huge compared to her and the fact that there were five of them against the one of her._

_Turning her head to the side and whimpering once more, Gabriella's eyes caught on a pair of cobalt ones, that seemed to darken as he moved closer to the crowd around the lockers, striding down the corridor with obvious confidence._

_"Sanders!" he barked, and instantly the one holding Gabriella up and the one who had come so close to her face that she could feel his breath glared at the intruder, Gabriella only now realising just how similar they were, at least brothers, if not twins, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" The stranger carried on, and Gabriella winced slightly at the venom in his voice._

_The five football players immediately sprung apart, letting Gabriella fall to the floor with a loud thud and a small shriek as she rubbed her head, glaring at the backs of the football players as they ran away, careening around the corner at such a fast pace that they all fell over, before picking themselves up and running off again._

_"Pathetic," the stranger spat, staring after them with fire burning in his eyes, "A bunch of seniors scared of one freshman," he shook his head slightly and turned to go, before he noticed Gabriella still sat on the ground and he smiled softly at her, holding his hand out to help her from the ground, and quickly catching her when she almost fell over again, "Come on, I think I know just the place that you need to go to," He smiled warmly at her and he scooped her up into his arms bridal style, Gabriella feeling surprisingly safe in his arms as she wrapped her arms securely around his neck, burying her face into his neck as well, as she felt him stoop quickly to collect her books, before strolling off casually, her still clutched tightly in his arms as he climbed a set of stairs and pushed a door open, an array of sweet aromas filling Gabriella's nose as she felt him sit down, settling her on his lap, before trying to coax her to pull her head out of his neck and talk to him._

_Gabriella blushed madly as she scooted herself off of his lap and sat beside him on the wooden bench, the stranger with the bright blue eyes chuckling softly at her actions._

_"Thank you," She whispered softly, her eyes showing true sincerity with those two simple words as he swung around to look at her, shock emanating from him at the fact that she had thanked him for something that as far as he was concerned, any decent human being would do for another, but a beam broke out on his face regardless._

_"It was no problem, really, they're just a bunch of pathetic idiots, who will be lucky to graduate at the end of the year," The stranger's smile broke into a beam as he heard Gabriella's giggles echoing through the air, "I'm Troy by the way, Troy Bolton," He smiled and held his hand out to Gabriella, which she took gratefully._

_"Gabriella, Gabriella Montez," She grinned, giggling again as they kept their hands unconsciously together, interlocking their fingers._

That day, Troy had introduced her to the gang, and she had instantly found her true family with all of them, even if she was at least a year younger than any of them, almost two years younger than Troy and Chad, given that their own birthdays' were in the October, whereas hers wasn't until the June.

It had taken six months for Troy to actually ask Gabriella out, about three days after her fourteenth birthday, although the pair always acted like a couple anyway, always interlinking their fingers, kissing each others' cheeks when they greeted, dangerously close to their mouth's, and Troy continuously planting sweet kisses to Gabriella's forehead, her knight in shining armour, intent on protecting her, from that first day onwards, right up until his death.

Gabriella was barely recognisable now to what she once looked like, gone were all of the colours, all she ever wore now was black. Long sleeved tops were her preference, usually with thumbholes in them as well, although if she had to wear short sleeves, she somehow always managed to find a black jacket to cover her arms. She no longer wore skirts at all, instead only wearing either black combat pants or black skinny jeans, and on her feet, she only ever now wore black trainers that were two sizes two big for her and were outlined with luminous pink, the only colour that she ever wore, and no matter what the weather, her attire never changed.

Her eyes were now even more set apart than they ever had been before with the heavy black eyeliner that surrounded them and the dark eye shadows that she now constantly wore.

Troy had always said how much he loved running his fingers through her long, curly hair, so in an act of defiance, only three weeks after his death when she was still furious with him for leaving her, she had hacked it all off, so it was now only just beyond chin length, and was religiously straightened every single morning to keep her old bouncing curls at bay, she also now had a thick, full fringe, which settled, just below her eyebrows, and since then, she had kept her hair no longer than just beyond her chin, cutting it if it ever got 'too long'.

_**Goodbye to you,**_

_**Goodbye to everything that I knew,**_

_**You were the one I loved,**_

_**The one thing that I tried to hold onto.**_

Gabriella held back her tears as she sang the first chorus, the first words that she had written to go along with the haunting music, that reminded her just why she needed to sing the song, just why she needed the closure. He was gone, and he wasn't coming back, not now, not ever. The one person that she had left that knew everything about her was gone, she was now all alone in the world, pushing everybody out, trying desperately to protect the broken, leftover shards of her shattered heart, broken ever since that fateful night that haunted her waking and her dreaming hours, February fifteenth two thousand and eight.

_"Troy, put me down," Gabriella giggled, kicking her legs slightly, and then screaming when she realised that her dress was riding up when she did that, causing Troy to laugh and gently adjust the dress once more, so that it was once again covering her modestly, as he spun around, clutching Gabriella tightly to his left shoulder as she pounded on his back, screaming at him to put her down._

_"No way Elle Belle, this is getting you back for saying that my shoes didn't match my tie," Troy chuckled, spinning her even faster as he started to tickle her sides as well, her laughter taking him over as he placed her back to the ground in front of him and let his eyes linger over the petite brunette in the scarlet red dress, fixing her hair slightly as she looked up at him self-consciously, always nervous over what she looked like, which was one of the things that Troy loved so much about her, she never realised just how beautiful she was to him and the rest of the world, so she never learnt to flaunt it and become to vain about it. Smiling slightly, he reached up and took her hand into his own, pulling it away from its' task of fixing her hair, his smile growing at her confusion, "You look beautiful Ella, you always look beautiful, stop worrying."_

_Gabriella blushed and looked to the ground, shuffling her feet nervously, before reaching up and wrapping her arms tightly around Troy's neck, pressing her lips tightly against his as his eyes widened in surprise, before he melted into the kiss and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her as close to him as humanely possible, and opening his mouth slightly when she begged him for entrance, allowing their tongues to begin the sensual dance that they had started long ago now, way back in the June of their freshman year._

_Pulling apart when air was a necessity, Troy leant his forehead on Gabriella's, and the couple breathed heavily, their eyes never leaving the others. "What was that for?" Troy questioned, scrunching up his face as Gabriella giggled softly._

_"You're incredibly, unbelievably amazing, Wildcat, you know that right?" Gabriella whispered softly, her coffee coloured eyes scanning the sapphire ones, lust and love shining in both of the opposite coloured eyes._

_Troy beamed back at her, "I could say the same thing about you Ella Bella," Troy's beam widened as he watched his girlfriend struggle to contain a yawn, "And now my sleeping beauty, I think that we need to get you home before you collapse on me." Troy chuckled softly and scooped Gabriella up into his arms bridal style, kissing the top of her head when she buried it into the crook of his neck, as he headed straight towards his black Audi._

_Gently, he placed her into the passenger seat, and did up her seat belt, chuckling to himself as he realised that his stunning girlfriend was already asleep, "I love you Ella, forever and for always," he whispered, dropping a tender kiss to the top of her head, before pulling away, only to find himself staring into the chocolaty depths of her eyes that still took his breath away, even after having known her for three years, and had her be officially his for two years, eight months, one week, and three days._

_"I love you too Troy, forever and ever, and ever," Gabriella murmured back to him, honesty and love shining in her eyes, as she gently tugged on his tie, pulling him closer until their lips met in a sweet, loving kiss._

_Troy smiled as he pulled away and softly pecked her lips once more, before standing up and closing the car door, walking around to his own side of the car, and settling himself, before starting the engine, turning to tell Gabriella to change the radio station over, only to find her already asleep once more, his jacket draped around her shoulders._

_Twenty minutes or so later, Gabriella's eyes blinked open sleepily, and she smiled across at Troy, who was concentrating seriously on the dark road that lay ahead of them, lit only by his own headlights._

_Suddenly, there was a blinding white light heading straight for their car, and no matter where Troy swerved the car to, the blinding lights seemed to follow, Gabriella started to scream, Troy's yelling joining her own only moments later, the squealing of tyres and the crunching of metal sounding out through the silent night air on the deserted dark road._

_Having no idea how much later it was, Gabriella slowly started to open her eyes, the first thing that she realised being the pain that seemed to radiate from her legs and her head._

_Slowly, she raised one hand up so that she was touching her forehead, pulling it away when she felt it touch a sticky substance, and realising that the crimson tint to her fingers was blood, now matted into her long curls as well._

_Quickly, she whipped her head around to look at Troy and make sure that he was still safe. In the pale moonlight, his skin seemed to glow a paler colour than she had ever seen it before, his eyes were a dull, unblinking blue, his chest unmoving, no breath entering or leaving his body and he was stained with dark red patches everywhere, from his head straight down to his stomach._

_"No, no, no, Troy no! Please don't leave me! You promised that you would never leave me! Troy, please wake up, please, I need you, wake up!" She screamed, over and over again, until her voice was hoarse and the tears had mixed in with the dried blood on her face, "I love you Troy, please don't leave me," Gabriella whispered quietly, gently pushing his eyelids closed, forgetting her own physical pain as raw emotion for the man that she loved took over and she placed an affectionate kiss to his lips, pulling away with a strangled sob when she realised how cold they were, too cold for him to still be with her._

_Gabriella pulled away from him and screamed for help for what seemed like days, but in reality was only hours, until another car finally pulled along the lonesome road, and saw the car wreckage, the distraught teenager and the motionless teenager and immediately called for ambulances and the police._

That would always remain Gabriella's worst memory, but it would always be the memory that she would be drawn back to the second that she closed her eyes, seeing the man that she loved, usually so full of life and warmth suddenly motionless and cold.


	2. Chapter 2

_**I still get lost in your eyes,**_

_**And it seems I can't live a day without you,**_

_**Closing my eyes and you chase the thoughts away,**_

_**To a place where I am blinded by the light,**_

_**But it's not right,**_

Gabriella smiled softly at the thought of the last time that she saw Troy, or at least what she believed was her last time, everybody else kept trying to convince her that it was only a dream, but Gabriella knew differently, she knew in her heart of hearts, that she had seen Troy in that place, although she couldn't fully describe where it was, she believed a sort of limbo place, somewhere between heaven and hell, for them to have those last few precious stolen moments together, before she was sent back to a life without him, and he moved onto an afterlife without her.

_Gabriella looked around in confusion, before moving towards the old park bench that seemed to have just appeared in front of her, a heavy fog settled in all around her so that she couldn't see anything._

_She glanced around and blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes carefully when she saw a figure start to move out of the fog, "Troy!" She screamed, launching herself forwards into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and her legs securely around his waist, peppering his face with tiny kisses as he chuckled softly, holding her tightly to him and breathing in her scent deeply, moving them so that he was sat once more on the park bench, Gabriella securely on his lap, their arms still wrapped around each other firmly, terrified of letting the other one go._

"_What happened Troy? Where are we?" Gabriella questioned, her facial features laced with confusion as she pulled her head out of the crook of Troy's neck and looked at him._

_Troy sighed softly and looked down, glancing back up so that his sparkling sapphire orbs locked with her dark, scared chocolate ones, he placed a gentle kiss to her forehead once before staring into her eyes once more, "I don't know Ella, but I don't think that I'm coming with you when you go."_

"_What do you mean? You promised you would never leave me Troy," Gabriella whispered, her voice breaking as the tears started to stream down her face once more and Troy closed his eyes painfully._

"_Never baby, never ever would I want this, but I don't think that I have a choice, the crash was the end for me Ellie," Troy murmured, gently stroking her cheek, before softly kissing her tears away, leaning his forehead on hers as the tears continued to pour from both of their eyes._

_Gabriella shook her head forcefully, "No, no, you can't leave me, you just can't, I've lost everyone else Troy, and I'm not going to lose you too, no matter what I have to do," Gabriella choked out, her tears now like waterfalls, as Troy gripped her chin forcefully and turned her face to look at him once more, terror, anger and sadness showing through his features._

"_Never say that Belle, never. I never want to hear you speak like that again, I'd die a million painful deaths if it meant that you stayed safe Gabriella, so you are going to go back down there, you are going to mourn me and you are going to move on with your life, and then when you're old and have had a full life, you and I can meet and be together once more, but until then, you have to live, for the both of us, and for everyone else, you have to let them help you move past me," Troy muttered, and closed his eyes agonizingly once more, before drawing in a deep breath and continuing with what he knew that he needed to say, no matter how much it would tear him apart, "And you have to let them help you to find love once more with somebody new."_

_Gabriella's head snapped up and she glared at him, fire dancing through her eyes from where she still sat on Troy's lap, "Don't tell me to fall in love with somebody else ever Troy Alexander Bolton, because that will never happen, you're my best friend, my saviour, my love, my soul mate, I-I-I don't know what I'm ever gonna do without you," Gabriella started to howl in unbearable pain, as Troy rocked her, his own tears mingling with hers._

_Gently, he took hold of her chin, and guided her lips to his, both of them still sobbing as he held their lips together, before finally breaking apart, leaning their foreheads against one another's again, "Please, Ella, for me, you are going to live your life and experience what I will never get a chance to experience, please baby, please promise me that," Troy sobbed, still holding onto her with all of his might._

_Gabriella started to slowly nod her head against his, "Uh-huh, I promise, but promise me that you'll be here when I finally get here," she wept quietly, as Troy took his turn to nod his head and promise her._

_Troy pressed his lips to hers once more and they both started to kiss each other with as much passion as they could muster, exploring the mouths that they both knew so well, but which they would miss for a good few decades, until they could be together once more._

_Pulling away, Troy reached up around his neck and gently unclipped the dog tags that he had hanging there, "Ella, baby, I want you to wear these, as a promise that I will always be there for you, for ever and ever and ever."_

_Gabriella nodded slightly, and lifted up her long hair, so that Troy could clip the chain around her neck, she slowly released his hand, and picked up the tags from where they now rested on her chest, reading them aloud to herself, "'Troy and Gabriella, always there to protect the other, their love touches us all daily, there forever and ever.'"_

_Gabriella glanced up at Troy cautiously, confusion etched into her features as he smiled softly at her, and gently cupped her cheek in his hand, running his thumb slowly over her cheek bone, "They were a present from the gang on our last anniversary, they decided that since we helped all of them to finally get together as couples, they were going to give one of us a present each of our anniversaries, and they decided to start with me on our second anniversary," He sighed softly, fresh tears glistening in his eyes once more, "Guess that they'll be finishing that tradition with me too, huh?" He smiled weakly as Gabriella's own eyes filled up with more tears._

"_I love you so, so, so much my Wildcat, and it hurts, it feels like I can't breathe, I don't want to lose you, I love you too damn much," Gabriella cried out, and Troy gently pulled her back to him once more, hugging her tightly._

"_I love you too my Ella Bella, forever and for always," Troy whispered, as he started to get fainter and fainter, and the sound of low beeping started to take his place._

_Gabriella blinked and groggily started to once more open her eyes in the bright intense light of the room, hearing a low, staggered beep from a monitor, as she slowly pushed herself up from the bed, glancing around the bare hospital room, trying to remember what had just happened, when a continuous beeping noise sounded from the room next door, a noise that she had only ever heard before on TV shows, such as ER, and that instantly had her heart pounding as she ripped the wires off of her and sprinted out of the door to her room, ignoring the pain that seared in her legs as she did so._

_Reaching the hallway, she found a room with glass windows next door, and curiously, she went to peer in the window, stopping to cover her mouth when a strangled sob escaped her lips and fresh tears started to once more stream down her face._

_Troy was lying in the hospital bed; pale except for the crimson patches that showed through every so often, matted into his head, a tube sticking from his mouth as the doctors looked at their watches, before writing a time down on the piece of paper they were holding, one of the nurses pulling a white sheet over Troy's unmoving face._

_Letting out a scream of anguish, Gabriella backed up quickly and collapsed against the wall opposite, slowly sinking down to the floor as she sobbed, her hand reaching up around her neck, and starting when she felt something cold and metal there, gradually tugging on the chain, to reveal a pair of dog tags, swinging around her neck, the engraving one that she had read aloud only a half hour or so earlier._

_**Goodbye to you,**_

_**Goodbye to everything that I knew,**_

_**You were the one I loved,**_

_**The one thing that I tried to hold onto.**_

Gabriella continued to sing the song and strum her guitar as all of the wild thoughts fired around her head, sure, she still had the gang, but other than them, she had really lost everything, Troy had been the one thing keeping her going, the one reason why she was actually still alive, the one reason that she had kept fighting after the deaths of her parents. Now, she kept fighting for the Danforths', who had been so kind to her, and who had brought her into their lives without a second guess, after the deaths of her parents, for Chad, who had already lost his best friend, and who would never cope with losing his baby sister as well, and for Sharpay, who still needed her best friend there, to make sure that she never got herself into too much trouble. But to Gabriella, none of them even came close as a reason to live, as Troy had been, her knight in shining armour.

_"You guys, shut up," Gabriella yelled, laughing as she answered the phone, trying to get her screaming friends to keep quiet, officially deciding that they were never playing pictionary again, "Hello," she giggled, trying to stifle her laughter with her hand, as Sharpay and Ryan suddenly launched at each other, pulling their hair and screaming, Zeke trying to grab his girlfriend as Chad and Troy grabbed Ryan, the others all watching with open mouths._

"_Is this Miss Montez speaking?" A formal voice asked on the other end of the phone and Gabriella frowned, walking away from her friends and into her kitchen, as she somehow knew that this phone call was not going to be good news._

"_This is she," Gabriella muttered, closing her eyes against the yelling of her friends, paling as she listened to the voice on the other end of the phone, before pulling it away from her ear and gently cutting off the line, placing the phone onto the counter with a trembling hand, before letting a cry of horror, and dropping to the floor, her entire body shaking with sobs as a loud crash resounded around the room, the glass that she had knocked off of the counter shattering instantly as it met the floor, a silence engulfing the house apart from Gabriella's sobs and the pattering of feet as the kitchen door was suddenly flung open, and the gang all stood there, wide eyed as they watched the scene before them, Troy shaking his head silently as he surged forwards to Gabriella, pulling her tightly onto his lap and rocking her, softly trying to calm her down, singing gently to her, running his fingers through her curls._

_"You're all I've got left now Troy, all I've got left," She repeated, over and over again, clinging tightly to him as he gently rocked her back and forth, watching her with great concern, along with the rest of the gang._

_"Ella, what's happened baby? Please, tell me, I can't help you if I don't know," Troy whispered urgently, still rocking her as he softly picked her up and moved them away from the broken shards of glass, sinking back down onto the sofa in the front room, unable to pry Gabriella's iron like grip from around his neck, sighing, he placed a gentle kiss to her forehead and begun rocking her once more as she pulled her blotchy face away to look at him, mascara running down her cheeks, the rest of the gang now knelt in front of them, but Gabriella was looking at Troy like he was the only one in her entire universe._

_"My-my p-p-parents are d-d-d-d-dead, they umm, they were at the store, and umm, an armed robber came in, m-my D-D-Dad was trying to h-h-help an elderly lady b-b-because she was sc-scared, and m-my M-Mom was trying to ring the c-c-cops, and they sh-shot them," Gabriella sobbed and clung tightly to Troy once more as the rest of the gang all looked at each other in shock, each crying fresh tears for the people who had become like second parents' to all of them since the Montez's had moved in a year and three months ago, they were the two who had managed to convince Troy's Dad to let him date Gabriella and become less focused on basketball nine months ago, they were the pair that Chad had gone to when he broke his arm on the electric scooter that his parents told him he couldn't go on but he went on anyway, they were the pair that everyone always went to when they needed advice, for big things or small things. "Please don't leave me Troy, please don't, you're my everything," Gabriella sobbed, clutching Troy's now crumpled shirt tightly in her fists._

_"I'm not going anywhere baby girl, not now, not ever, I promise," Troy whispered, holding her close and vowing to himself never to break that promise, knowing that if he did, he would break Gabriella too._

_**And it hurts to want everything,**_

_**And nothing at the same time,**_

_**I want what's yours and I want what's mine,**_

_**I want you,**_

_**But I'm not giving in this time,**_

Gabriella launched into the next verse, knowing that it was the reason that she had written the song in the first place, that it was the first verse she had written for the song when she had put pen to paper that fateful two weeks ago, the day that Gabriella Montez had finally broken, the day that Gabriella Montez finally cried.

_Staring blankly at the T.V., Gabriella watched as the car was rammed over the side of the cliff, flying through the trees, rolling over countless times until it finally rolled to a stop at the bottom of the hill._

_She could feel the bile rise in her throat as memories came flooding back, watching as Ryan slowly started to wake up and move towards the barely conscious Marissa, her own final memories of Troy, with all of his lifelessness and dull blue eyes resurfacing in her mind, feeling the weight of the entire gang watching her, trying to figure out what her next move would be, each of them ready to kill Sharpay for ever suggesting that they even watch the O.C._

_Suddenly, Gabriella ran from her seat, hitting the bathroom at top pace as she felt her stomach empty the contents of everything that she had eaten in the last few days, before she sat back and struggled to regain her breath, her eyes streaming with tears and her mouth finally choking out the sounds of heart wrenching sobs that the gang had been waiting to hear for two months now, the memories from that night repeating over and over in her mind, like a tape stuck on one particular moment._

_Standing up, she pushed forcefully passed the gang, and ran straight through the front door, leaving it open in her wake as she sprinted down the cycle path, soaking herself instantly in the pouring rain as the rain pounded, the wind howled and the thunder and lightning raged all around her._

_Making her way into the cemetery, Gabriella headed straight for Troy's grave, a pace that she had not been to since his funeral two months earlier, and immediately collapsed beside it, unable to tell the rain water running down her face from the waterfalls of tears by this point, and feeling thoroughly drenched, shaking from the cold as howls were emitted from the back of her throat, and she finally started to release the emotions that she had been bottling up since the fateful night of the accident._

"_Why did you leave me Troy? Why? You promised that you'd always be here for me, you PROMISED," Gabriella screamed against the elements, pounding her fists off of the concrete of his grave stone, feeling them turn red raw under the forces that she was inflicting on them, and ignoring the pain as the blood started to flow, "You were all I had left G-d damn it Troy! You weren't supposed to leave me, you said that you never would, I need you," still sobbing and crying hysterically, Gabriella fell further towards the ground, curling up in a ball beside the plot of Earth where her boyfriend, her best friend and the one true love of her life now laid forever more, her anguished cries echoing throughout the entire graveyard and mingling in with the tortured sounds of the rain and the wind, as seven other bodies appeared at the end of the gravestone, each one crying their own tears and feeling both relieved and emotionally drained that their friend had finally started to accept what had happened, and could now hopefully try to move past the fateful events of February fifteenth two thousand and eight, but hating to see her like this all at the same time._

_The curly haired boy softly shook his head, stepping out from the dryness of the umbrella, as he moved rapidly to the petite girl, wrapping a coat firmly around her as she cried, sitting bolt upright, and flinging her arms tightly around her brother, "Why did he leave me Chad, why?"_

_Closing his eyes softly, Chad wrapped his arms tightly around his little sister, trying to figure the words to say, "I don't know Brie, I really don't know, but I do know that he would have never wanted to leave you and that he loved you more than anything in this universe, anyone could see that, just from the way he looked at you," He eventually whispered softly, rubbing her back in a soothing manner, before picking her up and glancing one last time at his best friends gravestone, starting to carry Gabriella back home once more, with the rest of the gang each saying their own goodbyes to Troy, before following the brother sister duo, knowing that they were in for a rough night of trying to comfort Gabriella in as many ways as possible._

_**Goodbye to you,**_

_**Goodbye to everything that I knew,**_

_**You were the one I loved,**_

**_The one thing that I tried to hold onto._**

**_Goodbye to you, (Goodbye to you)_**

**_Goodbye to everything that I knew, (Goodbye to you)_**

**_You were the one I loved,_**

**_The one thing that I tried to hold onto. (The one thing that I tried to hold onto)_**

**_The one thing that I tried to hold onto. (The one thing that I tried to hold onto)_**

**_The one thing that I tried to hold onto,_**

**_And when the stars fall I will lie awake,_**

**_You're my shooting star._**

Gabriella finished with one last strum of the guitar strings, her tear filled eyes glancing upwards, ignoring the applause of the audience, who were now all on their feet, cheering for her, through the glass ceiling that covered the auditorium, her gaze being drawn to the brightest star of the lot, in Gabriella's mind, one that seemed to shine only for her, one that she had never seen once before the accident, that appeared to cover the empty space that Troy had pointed out to her only a week or so before the accident occurred…

_"I love you so much and I'm never ever gonna leave you Ella, you know that right?" Troy asked as the pair of them lay in the field in the middle of nowhere, his arm wrapped securely around her shoulders with her head resting on his chest as they both gazed up at the vast midnight black sky above them, lightened only slightly by the glow of the twinkling stars._

_Gabriella frowned slightly, lifting her head to look at him, his jacket falling from her shoulders as she did so, "But what if you get bored of me? Or if something happens to you that you don't mean to happen?"_

_Troy sighed softly, before an enormous beam lit up his face and he sat up, lifting Gabriella up so that she was now sat in between his legs, the jacket wrapped tightly around her once more, along with Troy's arms, their fingers interlinked as he gently took her chin in one of their entwined hands, lifting it up to look to where he was looking and to where he had their other set of tangled hands pointing._

_"First off, I could never get bored of you, don't be so stupid, and second, you see that empty piece of sky right there? Just to the left of that small cluster of stars?" Troy grinned at her as she squinted, before nodding slightly and looking back at him, confusion etched across her features. Troy gently kissed the tip of her nose, before smiling at her once more, "I'll be right there watching over you…"_

**The song was Goodbye To You by Michelle Branch, I hope you liked it, also please check out my story Mistakes and for any of you that read Need You Now, please check out the oneshot collection that is a companion for it, Memories, please review and tell me what you thought, it's much appreciated!**


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